


A Soul For A Soul

by Seven_Abominable_Snowmen



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 17:58:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19408447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seven_Abominable_Snowmen/pseuds/Seven_Abominable_Snowmen
Summary: Steve Rogers returns the Soul Stone





	A Soul For A Soul

5 stones down, 1 to go. 

A weary Steve Rogers trudged up the steep incline, ready to make his last reparation to the universe. The most important one. The soul stone. Shoulders set, Steve marched, determined he would not lose. Fate was the bully in this ring, and Steve Rogers would not give up without a fight. 

The black mass awaited him, ugly fabric whipping in the windless air. Creepy. But he'd faced creepy before. He'd faced rotten before, and he'll do it again.

"Steven Grant Rogers, son of Sarah. We meet again."

The Red Skull, reduced to a pitiful existence. But Steve had no time to celebrate this fitting punishment, he had a job to do and he was focused. He held up the stone.

The Red Skull (whoever he was supposed to be now) showed no surprise. Not even mildly. "If you already have the stone, I can't think what you want from me."

"You know what I want."

"Really? You could want anything. Your best friend back in one piece. A hot dinner. A date with a certain lady. World peace. How am I to know what you want." he shrugged, black clothing dancing around him to a breeze that couldn't touch Steve.

"Stop playing games! Natasha."

"Ah, yes. You're friend. It is a pity." he glanced at the cliff. "But it is done, and cannot be undone. A sacrifice, held forever."

"I have the stone, and I want to make a trade." Chin raised, Steve adapted his most commanding tone, but it had no effect.

Another shrug. "Pity about your friend, but it cannot be changed."

"How do you know, has anyone ever come back with a stone?"

The Red Skull halted, but it was infinitesimal. Gone in less than a blink. "Well, no."

Steve held his stone up higher, more confident, determined.

"A soul for a soul. If you give what you love to receive the stone, you should be able to give the stone to receive that which you love. A balance of scales. A two way street."

"That doesn't work, I'm afraid. Then the bargain could turn into necromancy." 

"But not when it's the stone that took the life in the first place. Then it's just a balance of scales. A cancelling out of a transaction done. Natasha's soul for the stone, the same stone returned for Natasha's soul."

"It doesn't work like that."

"How would you know, if it's never been done on your watch?"

"Because it's never been done on anyone's watch."

"That doesn't mean it can't be done, only that no one has done it yet. It also doesn't mean that it's out of the stone's capabilities, whether or not the gatekeeper allows it. A soul for a soul." he almost wheezed. 

"Even if it were to work, what of Natasha? Her body is dead, and bodies decay." 

"Even if it had been long enough for that to happen? And not just a day? Time doesn't flow here. For her it was seconds ago, or maybe it always was. If time doesn't move, bringing her back is no more a change in this place than taking her away in the first place. Her body lies here and if the stone is brought back for her, the deal should be null and void. A soul for a soul. It doesn't specify which direction. That which you love for the stone, the stone for that which you love. A balance of a scale."

The Red Skull just looked at Steve, for long moments, thinking. Weighing the choices. Finally he smiled, but it was a grim, foreboding thing.

"Very well. For the sake of balance. Or maybe because I've never had someone try to return the stone on my watch. Or maybe I just think this the most interesting thing to happen and I'm bored. Nevertheless, the stone for Natalia Alianovna Romanova."

Steve blinked as he was blinded by brightness and at the same time, a stiff and sore, otherwise unharmed body opened it's eyes in a puddle of water.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, I looked it up as I was writing this because I saw on Tumblr something about Steve returning the stone. So I googled if it had ever been done, and what I found were the writers trying to cement an impossibility for Black Widow to come back, by saying "You put it back, but you don't get anything in return. It's not like a pawn shop." but HONESTLY that's a bunch of bull to keep her dead. That was a bad example, because it's not as one-sided as Markus would like it to be. "Soul for a soul" is vague because it DOESN'T specifically say "soul for a stone". I have no idea why the writer's have such a hard-on for not bringing Natasha back. But like most of their bandaids on the dams that are their plotholes, it's not quite sticking and it's not quite big enough for the boo-boo. The writers can say whatever they want after (like "Peggy and Steve were always married") but the fact is Red Skull did not say it couldn't go both ways (in fact, no one ever asked). He did not specify a soul for a stone, only that the sacrifice had to be loved. (And I guess, have a soul? Cause I could throw my teddy bear I've had for a decade over the cliff, only he doesn't have a soul???). On one hand they've said "it's forever" and on the other they've left a loophole. As as any OUAT fan knows because of Gold, loopholes are made to be exploited. And you should be careful with the words you use. "Soul for a soul" not "Soul for a stone". Therefore, by opening it up with the repetition AND qualifying the stone as a soul, it can go both ways. Put that in your juice box and suck it, writers.


End file.
